A lot of you have probably already heard of Chinese B2B e-commerce site Alibaba, but just in case any of you have not I’d like to introduce you to one of the most insane & useful websites in the world.

Alibaba is a site where you can source goods from Chinese companies. On Alibaba and Alibaba Express you can get things as diverse as Marine Diesel Engines, RC Airplane Engines,  motherboards, solar plastic flowers, GPS tracking devices, mushrooms, children’s socks & full sized electric cars.

Crazyest thing I’ve found so far is Europium, “is very valuable material in control rods for nuclear reactors due to that it can absorb more neutrons than any other elements. Europium, atomic no.: 63, symbol as Eu, weight at 151.96, is utilized primarily for its unique luminescent behavior.” $686 per Kilo, knock yourself out.

The breadth of offering on Alibaba is unprecedented. It will make you fundamentally reconsider the price of everything around you. I never understood the name until I realized that the site is indeed a treasure trove and the prices make you feel like a thief.

If you need anything at all, check Alibaba first.  A few pointers:

1. A lot of times you will be negotiating via Google Translate with people. Keep your sentences unambiguous.
2. Check the history and any information you can find about the companies. Use Alibaba’s TrustPass feature to also check out companies. Alibaba Gold Suppliers have been verified.
3. Always use escrow.
4. Shipping is a large cost component for a lot of items.
5. The wholesale site Alibaba Express is easier to use as a consumer.
6. The site isn’t intended for consumers so you might want to get together with some friends and split a large order of something.
7. The site isn’t intended for consumers so some kind of LLC, SA or any kind of company are handy.